With Labour winning the UK general election this month, there’s lots for employers (and those in HR) to think about. Labour’s “New Deal for Working People” contains a few elements that could impact you and your business. Over the next few months HR by Tara will be working through them to help you decide how to respond to any changes in legislation.
Most of this won’t make much difference to those who are already good employers, treating our people fairly and with respect. Even so, documentation may need to be amended to help you demonstrate compliance.
Pay
The last Labour government introduced the National Minimum Wage. The new one wants to transform this into a real living wage. In particular, they’re looking to abolish the age bands. If you employ people under the age of 21 you may face a significant cost increase.
Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) was introduced in 1983 and works pretty much the same today. Labour plans to extend who’s eligible to receive SSP and when, and to increase the level of payment. If you feel this change may lead to higher levels of sickness absence in your organisation, take a look at how you can manage attendance proactively, rather than relying on reduced payment as a control on absence.
Unpaid internships will also be banned. If you ever offer unpaid work experience that’s NOT organised through a school, college or university, you’ll need to adapt.
Working patterns
Labour are planning to extend employee rights to have a say in their working patterns.
Since April, the law has changed to allow requests for flexible working from day one of employment. The new government wants flexible working to be the default for everyone, wherever possible. If you currently have a rigid approach to working patterns (in terms of start and finish times, hours per day, days per week, weeks per year, working from home, etc.) you may want to develop a new Flexible Working Policy to describe what your boundaries are and why. Being transparent about what you can be flexible on and what you can’t will reduce issues.
People on zero-hours contracts will be given the right to a more predictable working pattern, based on their working hours in the past 12 weeks. If you currently use zero-hours or variable hours contracts you may want to review them to: clarify the reason you use them; ensure they are equally flexible on both sides; and establish a process to regularly assess appropriateness.
Rights in dismissal
Labour will look to give employees more rights from day one. In particular, if the right to claim unfair dismissal is affected, employers will need to have clear procedures for any dismissal, no matter how long someone’s service. Now would be a good time to consider how you set clear expectations with new staff members in terms of their performance and behaviour at work and how you give regular constructive feedback throughout their time with you. Effective communication and management is going to be crucial to being able to fairly dismiss employees who are not performing well, who breach your standards of good behaviour or whose health impacts their attendance or capability at work. We suggest you also review your selection processes to ensure you make good decisions about who to hire in the first place.
Employment Status
The UK currently has a complicated system for employment status, with people classified as employees, ‘workers’ or self-employed. Labour plan to consult on a simpler approach to determine whether someone is an employed or self-employed worker. They will also implement the right to a written contract for self-employed workers. If you currently work with self-employed freelancers / contractors, now would be a good time to review those arrangements.
Right to switch off
Many countries already have rights for employees that aim to reduce 24/7 working and an “always on” culture. Labour plan to consult on ways to implement such rights in the UK. If team members are frequently contacted outside of their normal working hours, you should consider consulting on an appropriate policy that balances customer and colleague needs with someone’s right to balance work with the rest of their life.
These are all areas of employment (and self-employment) that HR by Tara can help with. Please get in touch if you’d like to discuss anything raised above.
We’ll be running some webinars over the next few months - free for regular clients - to explore the most relevant topics. Follow us on social media to stay informed.
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